The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-01-07
MANKAro FsEE PRESS,
FRIDAY. JANUARY 2. 1887.
Wild MEN OF SIAM.
A Peculiar Race at People Living In
mast ImpeuetrnbIs Jungies.


A Peculiar Race of People Living In Al
mast IInpruetrabIs JungIes.
A few nays since the governor of
Sangkia, II province on the west coast
D! Sam. who was here to bring tribute
Ia the king, gave me considerable in
formation IN regard to these people
who live OH the coast, terming them
Ken Poh-junglc pcopie--says Col.
Childs in "a letter from Bangkok. Siam,
to the Richmond (Mo) ConSerVator.
They mako their homes amid the
dcnscst portion OF tho forest, have but
little communication with tho outer
wOrld-in fact they are entirely isolated.
with are slaves and traders who have
penetrated the jungle in search OF game
and barter, and il is almost impossible
to penetrate to the villages on account
of the density of the vegetation, tho
dangerous beasts and venomous SER
penis that infest them. They shun all
intercourse with strangers, have q pecu-
liar dialect of their own, live i'm small
villages. and are a muscular, hardy
race, strictly vegetarians, do not drink
or smoke opium, have but few, il any,
of the vices of the natives, are about
five feet in height, and seem to be sunk
in the most abject barbarism, occupy
ing the lowest grade Of humanity.
What little religion they may have is a
mongrel worship of demons and the
malignant spirits that they assert in
habit the Jungle, which they attempt to
propitiate by presents, etc. Their habi-
tations are partly subterranean, about
four feet high, an excavation in the
ground, around which stakes are
driven, covered with dome of plated
bamboo over which is plastered thick
coating of mud, which soon hardens in
the sun, rendering it impervious TO the
rain or the heavy dews of that section,
which they occupy only when necessity
requires, Us they live mostly in the open
air, aud, when the land is overflowed,
up in the trees. Their clothing is of
the most primitive kind. A piece of
cloth about one foot wide and four feet
in length, which is held in place by q
piece of llama or vine, as they have no
cord or rope, is made into belt placed
around the waist; then the cloth is in
serted between the legs and carried
both back and front up under the bolt
over which it laps, anu the band being
drawn tight holds it in place, and as
the ends are opened spread out like
small aprons, and thus the denizens Of
the Jun gle are in full dress, somewhat
akin to the Edenic costume of old-the
fig-leaf.
One of the peculiarities of this strange
people is the way they raise their rice,
which is their main staple. almost their
sole stock of provisions, eked out with
fruits, roots, and herbs, which they col
lect when in season, and the jungle is
prolific of such kinds of food. Each
village has its head man, all live in
common, and as soon as field of rice
is ready to be cut he orders il and dis
tributes the grain equally among his
people, and so on during the season, all
sharing alike. Their only implements
are large knife used for cutting rice,
building their huts and making tops
and cutting their way through the
underground, and pair of shears for
cutting hair, which they cut short with
the exception of tuft on the crown of
the head about two inches in length,
which looks like shoe-brush, standing
up like bristles. Having no pots they
cook their rice in bamboo. They cut
off a section and shave it thin, open a
hole in one end, put in the rice and
water, then, closing up the end, put 1t
in the fire. Green bamboo being inn
pervious to the flavor, they thus have a
tirst-class pot. The same Is used by the
Siamese when travelling through the
jungle-and, as they eat with their
fingers, they need no dishes, and thus
have none to wash when the meal is
over.
When they need cloth, knives. or
shoes, they barter the products of the
jungle, which are many and varied,
consisting of rhinoceros horns, elephant
tusks, horns, homes, hides, and skins,
but will not take money, except in rare
cases. having no use for it, not know
ing its value. They are expert trappers
and snare all kinds of game, elephant
rhi13ceros, tigers, 1eopardS, pumas.
deers. and all other denizens of the wild
woods for their skins, and some of the
finest ivory exported was purchased
from these people, but their skins were
badly handled, which detracts from
their value. being merely dried in the
sun after being stripped from the
animal.
How Emil lola Works.
lola writes everything himself; he
never has a secretary for his extensive
correspondence. He even seals his
wrappers and addresses them when he
sends his friends brochu res or his
translators material. He also writes his
literary manuscript himself. Out of it
the printers compose what are called
"placards," large pages with four
gigantic columns of text. These are
sent to the author carefully revised and
free from errors, and then lola begins
to correct. He fills the wide margin all
round with hundreds of marks and
letters; ink lines cut through the text,
thin threads run crossways and diagon-
ally, entwining like a lasso a sentence
scrubbed in an open space; scarcely a
line is exempted from the hieroglyphics
of the master. Here note of interro-
CATION must make room for one of ex-
clamation; here semicolon is changed
into full point; a comma before or
after the ct effectively divides a phrase;
participles are replaced by adiectives;
substantives take the place of pro-
nouns; redundant adverbs must also
disappear; the past dcfnits" is sub
stituted for the ''imperfect;' more de-
scriptive words supply the place of tame
ones; for an expression repeated in five
or six pages synonym is Introduces;
whole phrases are remodelled, sentences
are condensed into two or three words,
and even haf-columns are ruthlessly
consigned ut once into the compositor's
type case.
1t must be bitter task to break up
the print a2ain; but there is no help for
it. The extra fees charged elsewhere
on authors for corrections are not
known; nobody complains; author and
publisher rival each other i'm common
endeavor after perfection. After such Il
corrected text the Paris journal prints,
and the translations are done in exactly
the same way.-Ahgenaeine ZeitunS.
A New Kind or Theatrical Gun.
powder.
A substitute for gunpowder, primarily
intended TO replace the gunpowder used
on the stage, has been discovered. The
accidents which have happened to
actors from the discharge Of firearms
are so freouent thai any means of nre-